Dear friends,

Welcome to the Iftar Dinner. The holy month of Ramadan is one of the sacred moments in the Muslim annual calendar and an important occasion for Albanians who traditionally stand united before God.

The sacred month of Ramadan offers a precious gift to humanity – reflection and finding inner peace – where the true journey of every believer and good man begins.

We Albanians are unique in our approach to freedom of belief and the examples are countless. Father Fishta said in his masterpiece the Highland Lute: “I am a priest, but I’ll with Muslims / Sacrifice myself, I tell you / Let them chain me, let them hang me, / But I’ll not give up Albania.”

Our unique inter-religious tolerance and harmony has left a mark on several foreigners who have visited our country. The American traveler Rosa Wilder Lane, told that at the home of a catholic highlander, dinner was postponed past midnight because the interpreter, called Rexhep, was a Muslim. Since they only had pork at home, the host had sent someone to the other village across the mountains to fetch goat meat and eggs for the interpreter. This is the Albanian spirit of tolerance and inter-religious coexistence.

Yet we cannot take pride in our ancestors’ history. There are a few questions that demand answers:

•           Are we today a worthy successor to our forefathers?

•           How do we uphold the values that have always distinguished us?

•           Are we the sons of this new century up to the challenges of the time, as Migjeni once said?

 

Wishing and knowing how to do good are two different things. The purpose, no matter how noble, does not guarantee the outcome. However, starting from inner peace and building a society whose foundations lay firmly upon the rule of law – perhaps in this way we can achieve something that our descendants will remember us for – an open, fair, cohesive society and an Albania worth living in.

Justice is the cornerstone of every democratic society. As St. Augustine said, “charity is no substitute for justice withheld”. Even our attempt to modernize our society by advancing towards the EU accession process, not as a final destination but as an internal reform process, is an example of the revival of an abandoned journey.

In this journey, religious communities have an important role to play. There is no doubt that religion can release positive energy. Its educational role of bringing out the best in man will make our society cultivate values that promote justice and welfare.

There is a direct link between religious harmony and healthy societies. Harmony produces inclusiveness and brings down barriers and religions differences, thus better countering any kind of extremism.

The Qur’an also says that “Had God willed, He could have made you one community, but He created different communities to give them the opportunity to accept one another despite the differences.”

Inter-religious harmony was cultivated by our ancestors because they understood the importance of unity in values rather than divisions based on dogmas. The well-known Archbishop of Durrës, Nikollë Kaçorri, was born in this tolerant Albanian environment from a Catholic father named Vokërr and a Muslim mother named Mihane.

Freedom of religion is the starting point for personal freedom. This profoundly humane and especially Albanian approach is proved by the historical fact that there have been no victims of inter-religious warfare in Albania throughout its history.

To those who say Albanians are not religious, that Albanians are not able to understand profoundly a certain religious faith, I answer that they confuse the free will with unconditional obedience. Once, our fathers had little education but a lot of common sense. Today it seems like the reverse is happening. This brings to my mind Oscar Wilde responding to someone who had studied at Oxford, “You had not yet been able to acquire the ‘Oxford temper’ in intellectual matters, never, I mean, been one who could play gracefully with ideas but had arrived at the violence of opinion merely.”

In Albania, according to our tradition, we share the Iftar Dinner with people from different religions. This is not just for show, rather because the breaking of bread only makes sense when shared with everybody. For Albanians, Iftar means an inter-religious Iftar, jointly attended by Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and people who believe in the good.

This is how we celebrate Iftar: as Albanians and united. As sons of God. As an ancient proverb says, God is one, though the wise call it by different names.

As for myself, I will paraphrase a French moralist and essayist Joseph Joubert who said “It is easy to understand God, as long as you don’t try to explain him”.

Thank you!